Information

Viva Hate is Morrissey's debut solo album. Originally entitled Education in Reverse (some LPs in Australia and New Zealand were released with the original title), the album was released on 14 March 1988 by HMV Records a mere six months after The Smiths' final album, Strangeways, Here We Come. Produced and co-wrote by Stephen Street, the album yielded two Top 10 singles, "Suedehead" and " Everyday Is Like Sunday".

Recording

Following the departure of Johnny Marr from The Smiths in 1987, Morrissey attempted to carry on with the band. Recruiting Easterhouse guitarist Ivor Perry, the remaining Smiths recorded a handful of tracks at London's Power Plant studios that July. Displeased with the results, the sessions were soon abandoned. As chance would have it, producer Stephen Street had sent Morrissey potential B-sides that he had composed for inclusion on future Smiths singles. With Marr disputing the rights to the Smiths name and still required to fulfill his contract with EMI, Morrissey embarked on his career as a solo artist.

Initially, Smiths members Mike Joyce and Andy Rourke were invited to join the Education In Reverse (the album's original proposed title) sessions, but due issues stemming from the earlier July sessions they chose not to participate. Street recruited Durutti Column guitarist Vini Reilly and session drummer Andrew Paresi to back Morrissey, with Street himself taking over bass duties. Recording for Viva Hate commenced at The Wool Hall studios in Bath, England in early October and would last until late December. During the sessions, 25 tracks were recorded, a portion of which would go without an official release for over two decades.

EMI executives stopped by the studio to check up on the recording progress, to which Street played them a rough mix of the album's first single "Suedehead". The executives responded positively which, according to Street, gave he and Morrissey a better sense of freedom with the album and the confidence that they were heading in the right direction.

Release

Prior to the release of Viva Hate, Morrissey released the single "Suedehead", which subsequently reached the #5 slot in the UK charts. On the heels of the success of "Suedehead", Viva Hate was released on 14 March 1988 and debuted at #1 on the charts. The album yielded one more hit single in "Everyday Is Like Sunday", which reached #9 upon it's 31 May 1988 release.

Re-releases

EMI, in celebration of their 100th anniversary, released a special edition of Viva Hate in the UK in 1997. In addition to featuring brand new artwork, including a new cover shot by Eamonn McCabe, the Centenary Edition features 8 bonus tracks — only one of which was contemporaneous with the album. Surprisingly, "Hairdresser On Fire" does not appear on this version despite originally appearing on the North American version of the album as a bonus track.

On 02 April 2012, a newly remastered special edition of Viva Hate, supervised by Stephen Street, was released. Controversially, Morrissey chose to omit one of the album's original tracks, "The Ordinary Boys," and include the session demo "Treat Me Like A Human Being." In addition to the track list changes, the intro and extended fadeout of "Late Night, Maudlin Street" has been edited. The original album artwork was restored for this release, however, the typeface font on the front cover has been changed, as was the case with the 2011 Bona Drag remaster.

Controversy

During the Viva Hate sessions, tensions started to arise between Street and Reilly, when the latter started ad-libbing guitar parts after complaining that Street's compositions were "too simple." Later, Reilly would go on to claim that he himself composed all the music to Viva Hate and that he played all the orchestral arrangements on a keyboard as opposed to the credited musicians. Street continues to dispute these claims and as proof of his authorship later released the Viva Hate Song Book on his official website containing his correspondence with Morrissey and the original handwritten compositions.